795 



supposed to be in latitude 4° (instead of 8° 8') 9 

 the portage of Parima was placed close to the 

 equator*. At the same period the Viapoco 

 (Oyapoc) and the Rio Cayane (Maroni ?) were 

 made to issue from this lake Parima-f\ The same 

 name being given by the Caribbees to the west- 

 ern branch of the Rio Branco has perhaps con- 

 tributed as much to the imaginary enlargement 

 of the lake Amucu, as the inundations of the 

 various tributary streams of the Uraricuera, 

 from the confluence of the Tacutu to the Valle 

 de la Inundation. 



We have shown above, that the Spaniards 

 took the Rio Paragua, or Parava, which falls 

 into the Carony, for a lake, because the word 

 parava signifies sea, lake, river. Parima seems 

 also to denote vaguely great water ; for the root 

 par is found in the Caribbee words that desig- 

 nate rivers, pools, lakes, and the ocean%. In 

 Arabic and in Persian, bahr and derm are also 

 applied at the same time to the sea, to lakes, 

 and to rivers ; and this practice, common to 

 many nations in both worlds, has, on our ancient 

 maps, converted lakes into rivers, and rivers 



* Brevis Descriptio Regni Guiancs, 1599, p. 11, tub. 4. 



+ Cayley, vol.ii, p. 46. Hakluyt, vol. iii, p. 692. 



t See above, vol, iii, p. 277. In Persian, the root water 

 (ah) is found also in lake (abdanj. For other etymologies of 

 the words Parima and Manoa see Gilt, vol. i, p. 81, and 141 ; 

 and Gumilla, vol. \ } p. 403. 



